In today’s fiercely competitive market, innovation is the fuel that drives businesses forward. Intrapreneurship is a way to let employees’ creativity and passion flow.
Defining Intrapreneurship
Intrapreneurs are staff members who think and act like entrepreneurs. They are imaginative and resourceful employees who take responsibility for turning creative ideas into profitable products or services. Gifford Pinchot III defines intrapreneurs as “dreamers who do.”
What are the business advantages of intrapreneurship?
When a company has an innovative culture, it’ll grow easily. What’s more, innovation is increasingly required to distinguish your business from competitors as you will frequently have new ideas to keep operations, products and services fresh. As such, intrapreneurship can play a vital role in improving the bottom line.
Intrapreneurship exploits employees’ in-depth knowledge of the industry to offer a cheaper alternative to traditional R&D. By providing staff with the support and freedom required to think and act creatively, companies may discover new-and-improved products and services (for example both the Post-It Note and the Facebook ‘Like’ button are products of intrapreneurship).
How can you foster intrapreneurship in your company?
Research shows that over 20% of all employees demonstrate some form of entrepreneurial activity. So how can employers best facilitate this untapped well of creativity and innovation?
Intrapreneurship allows employers the chance to take advantage of employees’ insight, experience and passion. However, to successfully implement an intrapreneurship program, management must be supportive, open-minded, understanding and patient. It’s all about striking a balance between taking an active interest in the project while also giving the intrapreneur the freedom they need to achieve their objects.
Learn more about intrapreneurship
If you are curious about how to use intrapreneurship to grow innovation in your organisation, why not check out the below infographic from the team at Trainwest.
